The invention relates to an integrated car seat with a lengthwise adjustment mechanism having two pairs of rails, with a bottom support frame having two front pivotal supports, two rear pivotal supports and two side parts carried on the pivotal supports, with a seat back connected to the side parts by a seat back joint and with a seat belt buckle.
Integrated car seats of this type are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,390,982; 5,599,070 and 5,988,759 for example. In integrated car seats, the lap portion of the safety belt extends, in the usual way, from a buckle to a fixation on the pair of rails that is turned away from the buckle. The shoulder belt extends from the buckle to a deviation point in the region of the upper edge of the seat back and from there downward where it is connected to a part of the seat, such as a tie bar. In contrast to normal car seats, the shoulder belt is not fastened to the B column. On the integrated car seat, all the belt forces are absorbed by the bottom support frame only and transmitted to the underbody of the vehicle.
In terms of mechanics, an integrated seat must meet markedly more stringent requirements than a conventional seat. The forces introduced into the bottom support frame through the seat back in particular are much higher than hitherto since no forces are now introduced into the B column. Accordingly, many component parts of the seat must be implemented to be stronger than hitherto, so for example the side parts, the pivotal supports, and so on. The retractor too is no longer disposed on the B column but in the car seat itself.
According to prior art, the side parts are configured to be double-walled, in the shape of more or less closed boxes. The inner cavity of these boxes is not used for component parts. This box construction allows achieving high strength. But it takes much place that could otherwise be used for component parts.
This is where the invention comes to effect. Its objective is to provide for a more space-saving construction of an integrated car seat, using the material in the best possible way.
It is therefore the object of the invention to improve the integrated car seat of the type mentioned herein above in such a manner that its component parts be more easy to manufacture and occupy less space and be best adaptable to the respective forces acting thereon.